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 Post subject: War of the Worlds: Sneak Peak (Spoilers...lots of Spoilers!)
PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:14 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 2:50 am
Posts: 4
Not to say I didn't warn you!

My Review of the movie is pretty much a summary of the first 20-30 minutes of the movie itself...so, there's spoilers...obviously. :roll:

---

“Is it the Terrorists?”

Hell no, It’s something else. It’s the latest movie by Spielberg and Cruise: War of the Worlds.

Adapted from the legendary novel “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells about an invasion of massive proportions by Aliens from the planet Mars. This is the book that started all the alien invasion ideas, and this was back in the 1890s!

But let’s fast forward and change mediums to the present day movie. Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a dock worker who’s currently living…or..lived in Brooklyn. It all starts off very peaceful, calm and a bit haphazardly…the weekend that is. Ray is divorced and every weekend or so he gets to spend time with his kids, Rachel (played by Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwood). Both of which don’t really like him all that much. After a quick game of catch (which ends in a comical ‘ball through the window’ routine) Ray decides to have a quick afternoon nap. Out of place, but what do you expect from a deadbeat dad?

When Ray wakes up, Rachel is watching TV (Sponge Bob Squarepants of course :)) and generally having a quiet time. Ray asks where Robbie went and Rachel tells him that he took the car and went someplace. Did I forget to mention that Ray owns one of those fully restored souped up cars? And that Robbie doesn’t have his liscence? Well, shortly after Ray bolts out the house he stops and looks at the people looking at him. Well…not at him, but at something behind him.

All through the beginning of the movie we’re told that massive freak lightning storms are occuring throughout the world. “Followed by smoke and fires” Hmmm…And that’s exactly what’s brewing behind Ray, a massive storm. He runs out the back of his house to see the storm better, that’s when things start getting odd. The wind picks up, and starts howling past them, not at them, past them, blowing towards the storm. He calls Rachel to come and see the storm and when she comes out and sees it, the winds dies down almost at once. Then the lightning starts. A single bolt, then another, and another, one right after the other. Ray and Rachel run for cover near the house and after a few seconds pause. The lightning kicks it up a notch. BOOM FIZZ CRACKLE and all that jazz. Which forces Ray and Rachel to take shelter inside. When they get there, It seems like all is clear. “It’s fine, you’re fine. Cause Lightning doesn’t strike twice.”

Uh huh…So after the lightning strikes the same place Twenty Six times. Forcing Ray and Rachel to hide under the kitchen table. The storm stops, and moves on. Ray then ventures out of the house, finding that nothing electric works…hmmm…Ray finds Robbie coming back from the strike site. He tells Ray where it is, and being the dead-beat dad that he is, tells Robbie to go inside and wait with Rachel until he comes back. So off Ray goes to see what the hub-bub is about. When he gets to where the lightning struck there’s a small innocent looking crater about a foot wide, leading down into the ground with small pieces of steaming rocks strewn about. Ray picks one piece and gingerly tries to hold onto it. “Is it hot?’ one of his buddies asks, “No…It’s freezing.” That’s when things take a ‘turn’. Forgive the pun :)

Something under the ground starts to move, the police at the scene are stumped. “There’s nothing down there! No water mains, no subway.” But something is down there. The asphalt begins to crack, people scramble away. The cracks reach a building, and as it’s windows shatter a crack forms straight up the side of it. Finally after another crack partially consumes a church. The entire area where the cracks formed begins turning. This is pretty much the “Opening of the Cylinder” It turns 180 degrees, the ground suddenly bulges upwards like a bomb went off underground, and then it’s over, the bulge forms a massive sunken pit, sucking down a car with it. All is quiet, then the same car is flung out of the pit 50 feet into the air, crashing down ontop of another car. After that a massive three toed leg follows, arching upwards crashing down onto another car.

People panic and start running away as this massive machine slowly and gracefully rises itself out of the pit, looking like a cross between an organic beast and a machine. The Tripod reaches it’s full height, towering over everything, atleast 15 to 20 stories high. People take cover, but the Tripod stays where it is, slowly waving back and forth like a cobra does before it strikes. The crowd of people regain their nerves and their curiosity overtakes them. People slowly edge out, some taking pictures and others videotaping the spectacle. All seems safe and tranquil but the machine lets out a massive booming note, which makes people crouch down in cautious fear. The Tripod then slowly lowers a pair of pincer-like arms. I’m sitting in the theatre thinking: “Aww man…No heat ray funnels…” I take it back as soon as I see the claws glow blue. A few people edged forwards, one of these holding a video-camera. A bright beam lanced out onto the man and there was a muffled boom as the camera dropped to the ground. We don’t see what happens to him specifically…but we do see what happens next.

The Tripod fires it’s heat ray into the crowd , weaving it backwards and forwards. Turning people, not into flames. But instead, much worse, they are turned instantly into ashes, leaving nothing but their clothes, somehow untouched fluttering to the ground. Ray hoofs it into a store to try and get out of the heat-rays path of destruction but the heat-ray goes right through glass, ‘ashing’ people all around Ray as he runs from the Tripod. He gets clear of the store just as the Tripod fires a new kind of weapon, a bright green beam of light, torching the store and a taking off the entire 2nd story of a town house, clean off. Ray hides behind an untouched building and watches in a feared awe as the Tripod continues it’s “Sanitation” of the city.

A few moments later, Ray walks numbly into his house, past the kids and ignoring their questions of “What happened”. Ray is pretty much in a state of shock at this point, it’s only when Rachel points out that he’s covered in ash, that he regains himself. Now you know what the Ash is…the remains of dead people. So Ray forcefully watches the ash off of his face and his hair. Afterwards he snaps into crazy lunatic mode. “We’re leaving this house in sixty seconds” He orders his children to find food, batteries and their luggage that they brought with them. Soon after they are in the street, strolling past flee, panicking people heading directly for a working van. They hop in and Manny, a friend of Rays, and currently working on said van, gets all high and mighty with him. Telling him to get out of the van, while Ray tells him to simply, “Get in or you’re going to die.” Which of course, like all people…he doesn’t get in. Ray pulls away from the gas station that the Van was at and watching in the side mirror we see Manny get ashed by the heat-ray seconds later the gas station is blown away. Now we get to the fun part. The van careens away from Rays street as we see the bridge behind Rays house get completely destroyed (this is the part from the super bowl) The bridge topples over and a tanker truck smashes down onto Rays neighbours house, seconds later it explodes. And by It I mean Rays neighbour-hood…everything around the racing Van is turned to flames. Afterwards Ray and his kids are safely on the freeway heading towards his ex-wifes house for safety.

Ray finally has time to ask some questions of theirs. Robbie asks where did it come from, Ray tries desperately to make sense of it all, mumbles out a phrase close to the tag line of the movie, “It was if they were here already…”. Robbie doesn’t quite get it, so he asks where were they from, Ray replies with “far away”. Robbie still doesn’t get it and says the funniest line from the movie. “What…like Europe?” Ray, losing it replies with “No! Not like Europe!”.

Thus closes the first chapter of the movie and my sneak peak at one of the most anticipated movies this summer. War of the Worlds will grip your interest from the get go. With the introduction, taken almost word for word from the novel (Narrated by Morgan Freeman), and from the numerous nods and a great homage to the George Pal 1950s War of the Worlds movie (You’ll notice it when you see it)

My Rating: 9.5/10


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